Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Mercury Mask ❯ "Oh dear..." ( Chapter 12 )

A/N: Heehee, I started this way before I finished chapter 11, and this is gonna get interesting. This is the final arc of Mercury Mask, but it's also the longest…but then…oh will Lady Nightmare ever be happy…she finally comes in as the villain in the CLY, which btw the first chapter is posted, which is basically a recap of what happened over the past six years, it takes place six years (nearly seven actually) in the future. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!

Episode 12 of Mercury Mask

"Oh, dear…"

Greg and Ken sat talking to a few of their friends before the bell rang to signal the beginning of the day.

"Whoa, check out the new hottie..." one of the guys commented checking out a new girl who was speaking with the teacher. The bell rang and they each went to their desks.

Mr. Kamehema stood up from his desk and went to the podium in the front of the class. "Class, this is Amanda Chiba, she has just transferred here from London, England. If you have any questions, I ask you to get them done now and not during my class."

Greg groaned inwardly and glanced at Ken sitting diagonally from him, to see if he had noticed, but of course he hadn't. The girl was tall, atleast Lita's height, she had straight, back-length blue hair like Amy's, and was wearing cute cat-eye glasses.

"Have you always lived in London?" a girl in the front row asked.

"No, I am originally from Japan. I've lived in London for the past ten years though. I went to an all-girls school," Amanda replied looking a little nervous, but composed.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" the guy who had called her a hottie asked.

"Yes..." Amanda replied slowly. "He starts school here tomorrow. His school wouldn't let him transfer as quickly as mine."

Greg whacked Ken in the arm; he still hadn't figured it out. "It's Amanda," he whispered. Amanda was watching Greg intently as he leaned forward.

"Duh, Mr. Kamehema just said her name a minute ago..." Ken replied leaning back on the empty desk behind him.

"No, you idiot, Amanda," Greg hissed at him. "As in my future daughter!"

Ken fell over backward, knocking the desk behind him over, making a very loud crashing noise.

"Shinozaki! What the hell are you doing?!" Mr. Kamehema asked.

"Oh my...are you alright Ken?" Amanda's hand flew to her mouth as she said this, luckily no one had noticed due to the fact they were paying attention to Ken picking up the desk.

"Take that seat, Miss Chiba, hopefully that won't happen again," Mr. Kamehema instructed.

"Thank you," Amanda replied taking the seat behind Ken.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amy walked into the computer lab during her lunch period to do a little research on the Internet for a History essay. There was one other person in the lab and Amy decided it was better to have company than not and sat down at the computer next to the other girl.

"Hello," Amy said to the girl.

The girl looked up in surprise and the expression on her face was a little terrified. "Oh...G-good afternoon," the girl replied.

"Are you doing research for an essay too?" Amy asked starting to type at her computer.

"Oh--uh--no, actually I'm trying to email my boyfriend to see when he's going to be home tonight."

"Oh, I see. By the way, my name is Amy Mizuno."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Amy, but actually I already knew your name. I had the pleasure of meeting your boyfriend this morning; he's in the same class as me. Actually, funny thing, while the class was asking me questions he was talking to his friend Ken and Ken fell over. It was pretty funny...oh don't make that face, he wasn't hurt. Oh, I'm such a space cadet, my name is Amanda Chiba."

"I thought it was weird that Greg's class was asking you questions but you're the new student from London. You've already got quite the reputation. Students are saying that a student in Mr. Kamehema's class fell over in his desk because you were so pretty. But I guess it was a misunderstanding, oh no, don't take it that way, you are pretty, it's because Ken has a girlfriend, her name is Lita."

"Oh,"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Serena was gleefully skipping down the hall at school, heading for the front doors. She was so excited about her recent promotion on the newspaper staff; she couldn't wait to tell the girls. Of course, this is Serena we're discussing and of course, she wasn't paying attention. WHAM! Books and papers flew everywhere!

"I'm so-o-o-o sorry!" Serena exclaimed helping the other girl pick up her things.

"Oh, no it's my fault, I'm so clumsy!" the other girl said, Serena thought her British accent was cute.

"Well, obviously you haven't heard of me, I've earned the title of school klutzoid!" Serena replied handing the other girl her papers.

"O-o-o-h…so you're Serena Tsukino?" the girl asked with a smile.

"Oh, so who told you?"

"Some boys in my class, Ken Shinozaki and Greg Urawa," she replied with an even bigger smile. Serena had not quite noticed that the girl was secretly laughing and had one eyebrow raised.

"I'll remember to tell their girlfriends, so are you the new exchange student?"

"Oh! Yes, my name is--"

"Amanda, I know, Amy told me all about you, you're from England right?" Serena asked now seeing that this girl looked familiar.

"Yes, but I really should get going, if you could just point me in the direction of the gymnasium?"

"Ooh, you're a cheerleader, huh? I'll put a good word in for ya, one of my friends is the captain of the squad, and it's just down that hall," Serena pointed down the corridor to their left.

"Oh, thank you so much Serena, I hope I'll be seeing you around!" And she disappeared down the corridor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hey, wait up!" Raye yelled trying to catch up to her friends.

"She's really nice! I mean, under the circumstances we met she must be incredibly nice, she took the blame for running into me!" Serena said to Amy, Greg, Ken, and Lita as they were heading towards Raye's place. Greg and Ken were trying not to laugh, Amanda had asked them to let the girls ponder on it for a while and see if they noticed.

"Well, we did warn her you were a total klutz, she doesn't seem like a klutz though, she's definitely smart," Ken said rather thoughtfully.

"Heheh, you should've seen the teacher, 'What is the Distance Formula class? Don't feel bad if you're feeling behind Miss Chiba, just come see me after class and I'll help you catch up!' 'Square root of 'x' one minus 'y' one squared plus 'x' two minus 'y' two squared. And no, I'm feeling as if I quite belong in this level of class!' HA! Man, was she stunned, I'd've felt stupid too, but what a way to stump a teacher!" Greg said laughing.

"Greg! That's mean!" Amy exclaimed.

"Her last name is Chiba?" Serena asked.

"Yeah, it's a common name in Japan, Serena, it's not like just Darien has that last name," Greg said giving her a reassuring look.

"No, it's not that, now that I think about it she did look like she was Japanese, even though she said she was from England…"

"London, actually, and she moved there ten years ago and is just coming back to graduate here, and get back into the Japanese culture," Ken said knowingly.

"And she's going to cheerleading tryouts today, so she must be athletic too," Serena said thoughtfully.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"NEXT!!!!" Mina yelled, completely exhausted from all the idiots trying to make the squad.

Amanda walked into the gym rather uncertainly. "New girl alert," Sakuya whispered to the rest of the squad. "I'm sorry, but you can't wear glasses if you're going to be on the squad, they'll fall off in mid-flip," Sakuya said as if she were speaking to a child.

Amanda took her glasses off and held them up, "They're fake, they just look good on me,"

"You'll need to fill out--" Katrina started.

"Already did," Amanda said handing her the packet of papers.

"You'll need to show us you can do a standing back-handspring back-tuck, standard procedure," Sakuya said.

Amanda preformed this little stunt flawlessly. "So she can jump, can she yell?" Katarina asked Mina who was sitting in the middle of the group.

"Okay, we'll try an easy one," Mina said, thanking the Amanda that had left recently for the good tryout cheer, "Awesome, like WOW! Totally freak me out, I mean, right on! Crossroads sure is number one!"

Amanda smirked, how well she knew that cheer, "I transferred here from London, where I was captain of my school's squad! Gymnastics doesn't start for months, so this is a last resort!"

Most of the squad stared. Mina was crushed, here she had thought she had found someone who seriously wanted to make the squad and now she says that.

"Look, obviously you don't want me on the squad, so I'm going home. I have a job, a boyfriend, and a lot of boxes to unpack, so if you're done torturing me I'll be going," Amanda said grabbing her glasses and bag and heading for the exit to the school grounds.

"Amanda, wait! You made the squad!" Mina yelled after her, just about jumping out of her seat.

"Yeah, sure!" Mina heard from outside.

"We never agreed on that! We decided on Sakuya's little sister, Mika!" Katarina yelled at Mina.

"Sorry, this is a cheertatorship and I'm pulling rank, she will be on this squad whether you like it or not!" Mina yelled back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Serena, will you pay attention?" Amy asked as she tried explaining the Quadratic Formula again.

"I can't! That girl, Amanda, is bugging me! She looks so familiar! But I can't think of who she looks like…"

"Amanda?" Greg said.

"Yes, the exchange student, Amanda," Serena said as if it were obvious who she was speaking of.

"No, I mean, she looks like Amanda Urawa, as in Amy and my future daughter?"

"O-o-oh, that's who she reminds me of--*click**the light bulb just turned on inside Serena's head* That's it! She is Amanda! That's why she was smiling like a cat that had eaten something it shouldn't have when we bumped into each other!"

"Serena, you have no way of proving that," Amy said.

"No, Amy, she is, I thought you said you talked to her? We figured it out this morning and she confessed," Greg said.

Amy laughed at how stupid she had been now that she thought about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Mina went in search of Amanda's apartment after tryouts and found that it was above the dance studio where she and her friends had taken ballet a few years back. There were iron stairs on the outside of the building and a door at the top. Mina took the steps two at a time and rang the doorbell.

"Ding-Dong"

"Ooh, visitors" JJ smiled and opened the door to the apartment. "Mina! What're you doing here?"

"I-I should ask the same thing--I m-must have the wrong address--But if you're here then--Amanda Chiba is Amanda Urawa?" Mina said in disbelief.

"Yeah, but why are you here? And you're a cheerleader?" JJ asked with a smirk, and a look down at her skirt.

"Head cheerleader, to be exact. I'm up here..." she said bringing JJ out of his little reverie of looking at her skirt. "She tried out for the squad…so where is she?"

"Oh, she went back to London, something about crazed cheerleaders…"

"Seriously,"

"Is her current drug dependency going to be a problem?" JJ asked with a smile.

"Oh, shut up you freak! When did you get here anyway?" Amanda said coming up the stairs in a leotard and tie skirt.

"'Bout an hour ago," JJ said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"What do you want, Mina?" she asked solemnly.

"Join the squad, we need your talent!" JJ snickered at the term 'talent.' (That was soooo for you real-life JJ!)

"The rest of the squad doesn't seem to thinks so," Amanda said icily, moving past her into her apartment.

"Seriously, they're just jealous!"

"Look," Amanda said opening a bottle of bottled water, "I changed my mind, If you want me on the squad so bad, I will be on the B squad and be an extra, but that's it, I don't want to hang out with girls like that,"

"Yes! All right! Practices are everyday after school--"

"No, then, like I said I have a job, which I need to be getting to if you don't mind," Amanda said passing past Mina once again and disappearing around the corner of the building.

Mina followed, and discovered that Amanda worked at the dance studio. "You work here?" she asked.

"Oh, so now you're stalking me?" Amanda asked as she ushered some little girls into the changing room. "Hurry, girls, I want to start soon! Mina, I didn't come straight to you guys because you looked happy since I left, and I know how important normal lives are to you guys. Olivius isn't gone you know--"

"What happened?!?!" Mina suddenly exclaimed.

"What?"

"You look my age, but you were fourteen when we left Crystal Tokyo…but JJ doesn't look different."

Amanda wanted to laugh at Mina's delayed reaction.

"I'll explain that later…tell the girls to come by my apartment later, like seven? I'll explain then," Amanda invited them reluctantly.

"Is this like Sailor Soldier stuff?" Mina whispered to Amanda so the little kids couldn't hear.

"Kind of, but I would rather it be just the girls, that way I can give details without feeling gossipy, and with Serena and the fact I owe debt to her for my great relationship with Juzo…"

"Oh I see…As in interesting romantic comments?"

"Something like that…. I'll make cookies for you guys too, I have time. Alright, class, first position!"

"Since when do you dance?"

"Don't make me hit you Mina Aino, that is so not a subject you want to get me started on!" Amanda said trying to get Mina to leave so she could teach her class.

"Okay, I'll see you at seven then!" Mina said peppily. 'Man, the girls are never going to believe this!'

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"YOU GUYS ARE NEVER GONNA BELIEVE WHO'S APARTMENT I WAS JUST AT!" Mina yelled nearly breaking the sliding door to Raye's living room in the process.

"Amanda's?" Amy said.

"Yeah, but which one?" Mina said with a big grin.

"They're the same person, we've known that since this morning apparently..." Raye said referring to the fact that Greg and Ken had not said anything minutes ago.

"Oh…well, she said that you're invited over later at around seven," Mina said sitting down, rather turned off.

"Cool, JJ there?" Ken asked, then he thought for a moment that JJ would be at least 22 and then that it wouldn't make sense that Amanda's 'boyfriend' would be starting at Crossroads the next day.

"Yes, but sorry, it's 'girls only' this time. She said you guys will probably get the short version of the story sometime,"

"What story?" Greg asked.

"Well, you're gonna have to see for yourself tomorrow." Mina said, with a knowing smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*Ding dong*

"Okay, that's the girls, now I hate to shove you out of the picture, but will you leave, I promised 'girls only' and if the other guys aren't here then--"

"I'm a part of it though," he said kissing her. Amanda smiled in mid-kiss.

"Please…" she murmured.

"Only for you my love," he said. JJ smiled at her and went back into the studio in the very back of the apartment.

"Come in! It's open!" The five girls came cautiously in.

"Damn, girl, what'd you do? This place was a mess when I was here this afternoon and now it's spotless!" Mina said as she took off her shoes.

"Heh, I never reveal my cleaning secret. Come over and sit down," Amanda said setting a plate of cookies down on the table. ("Don't mind if I do…" Serena said.)

"So why is it you asked us to come over?" Lita asked.

"Heh…Well, you see, as of now, all of you but Mina are assuming that I am approximately 18…news flash, I'm two days older than when you left Crystal Tokyo…"

"But it's only been two weeks!" Amy said. "That's impossible according to the laws of physics! You can't possibly have grown and--filled out--so quickly…"

"Yeah, well that's why I wanted you guys to come over, you know, so you weren't shocked when you saw that JJ isn't any different. I don't want to disturb your lives any more than this, but since you'll have to put up with seeing JJ and I you should at least know what happened," Amanda said sadly sitting down on the couch next to Serena. "I understand that you guys want to live normal lives and after this I'll leave you be, I won't even hang out with you guys."

"Why not?" Lita asked.

"Because you all look so happy, I mean, Mina's got the cheerleading squad, and Serena's editor-in-chief of the newspaper now, and I don't want you involved in this Olivius stuff again. I almost got half of you killed the first time around…" Amanda said sadly sitting down next to Serena.

"I wouldn't give up being a Sailor Soldier for anything…" Lita said.

"Hmmm…well any ways, I'll try to tell this as best as I can, just please don't interrupt…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

FLASHBACK

(Two days before, in Crystal Tokyo, the Sunday that the Sailor Soldiers left--Amanda is still 14)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amanda was drawing a blank, every spell she had learned was coming to her as mush-- she couldn't remember a thing! The other girls seemed to be having the same problem. Olivius just floated there, cackling. Amanda used the first thing that came to mind…

"Infintum Agum!" She yelled. A bright blue ball of light flew out from the end of Amanda's staff.

Olivius looked down at her in surprise, she waved her hand and the ball of light turned black and shot back at her at twice the speed…Amanda didn't even have time to move.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What am I going to do, Serenity? If this gets out…and with that boy!" Amy whispered hoarsely.

"Leave this to me, I have a plan, but you have to trust me Mercury…" Serenity said quietly, and in that unmistakably calm voice she used when something was wrong.

"Of course," Queen Amy said, leaving the room.

'Oh, my head hurts,' Amanda thought. 'I hurt all over…'

"Amanda?" she heard Serenity say quietly, "Are you awake?"

Amanda stirred and opened her eyes; she smiled at Serenity and sat up despite her aches.

"How are you feeling?" Serenity asked sitting on her bed.

"Disoriented, kind of like everything feels small and I feel big…"Amanda said kind of oddly, looking at her hands. She studied them, almost as if they weren't her own. They were white, and her fingers, long and slender. She frowned at the smile Serenity was giving her.

"I always knew you'd turn out as pretty as your mother, if not prettier…" she said with that all knowing smile that you should always be worried about. "Maybe you should look in the mirror and get over the initial shock…and there's someone outside who has been quite worried about you for the past couple of hours…"

"Oh, let him in," Amanda said jumping up and going over to her mirror.

"You can come in JJ, she's okay…" Serenity was looking at Amanda apprehensively as JJ opened the door. Amanda was shocked…she was older…she was taller…she was beautiful….

"Hey…" JJ said rushing up to her and kissing her. Then he glanced at Serenity.

"I have become temporarily deaf and blind," she said turning around. Amanda smiled, and JJ took a good look at her.

"Something's different. What is it? Your hair?" JJ asked. Amanda shook her head.

"Lipstick?"

'He hasn't noticed…' Amanda thought.

"You're taller! I didn't have to bend down to kiss you, you're almost eye level with me! Wait a second…how'd you get taller?" JJ asked curiously.

"I have to come back into this now, I can explain. Apparently, the spell Amanda cast was an aging spell, it was supposed to keep aging Olivius at a rapid speed forever. When Olivius repelled the spell, it was turned into Dark Magic and was also altered. Amanda won't continue to age but she is now about 18. We also can't reverse the spell either, obviously because mixing magic is dangerous, only Olivius can reverse it. So, I'm afraid you're stuck, Amanda."

Serenity could've sworn Amanda had never smiled wider inn her life.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to go find your mother, JJ I want you to answer if anyone knocks on the door. DO NOT let anyone in you don't recognize or don't trust, nor Sabrina, she's a little young and I fear she may tell someone."

"Of course, Your Majesty,"

"I'll leave you two be," Serenity said closing the door behind her. "To be young and in love…" she sighed heading down the corridor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Amanda, you…" JJ trailed off, Amanda was looking up at him through those long lashes of hers. "You look--" JJ started looking her up and down. She was definitely taller, her hair slightly longer, and she had filled out quite a bit. Amanda now noticed that she really did need a bra and crossed her arms across her chest, but it was really too late.

"I--I feel so awkward…" Amanda said, trying to walk towards her vanity but tripping. "I need to get used to these long legs."

JJ smiled, helped her up, and embraced her, kissing her passionately. Of course at that moment the door opened and Serenity and Queen Amy came in. JJ pulled away rather quickly but once again the reflex seemed to be too slow. Queen Amy glared at him.

"Now, this is what I propose, Amanda, we send you back to the past again. You can finish high school and we'll see if we get anywhere. But you will definitely need an escort under the current circumstances…"

"I know what you're thinking and the answer is 'NO!'" Queen Amy said furiously with a glance at Amanda and JJ.

"I wasn't planning on asking you, Amy, you left this in my hands, you're here now because of the necessary arrangements. Now, it must be a knight, someone whom Olivius has had control over, and since Amanda and JJ are so close I will leave the job to you if you would like it JJ."

"Of course!" JJ said rather eagerly.

"You will probably have to share an apartment which means I am going to give you, Amanda, the same advice my mother gave me when I moved away from home, 'If you ever have the urge to do something, wait until the next day, and if, when you wake up, you still have the urge to do it, then do it, but if you don't, wait.'"

"Thank you, that is good advice," Amanda said gratefully although blushing furiously at its meaning.

"I am also trusting you, JJ, to be a good boy. I'll inform your parents, but it may take a day or two for you to be transferred to another school. With Amanda it's a little different...this is an emergency. You'll need to find an apartment, and I've already taken the liberty of finding a few in the right area. We'll pay for the rent, for now, but any other expenses will have to be made on your own, which means water, electricity, cable, food, and personal expenses. Therefore, this is a life experience as well as a mission."

"So we both have to get jobs?" Amanda asked a little curiously.

Serenity smiled and said, "Yes, but I must advise you Amanda, that you will have very little problems, and--I'll tell you later,"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

END FLASHBACK

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Oh how sweet, he didn't even notice...I think that's a good sign that my matchmaking skills are still as good as ever," Serena said a little airily.

"Meatball Head, you're getting big headed..." Raye said glaring at her.

"You shouldn't be talking, I matched you with Chad!" Serena laughed, she had Raye beat.

Amanda was smiling vaguely, "It was sweet...but he'll get big-headed if you guys start blurting out compliments, he's eavesdropping just so you know."

"How do you know?" Mina asked looking around.

"Because, he's back in the studio, and he always plays music when he's working," Just then Shonen Knife started playing in the back of the apartment.

Amanda laughed. "And--had he seriously been working, he wouldn't be listening to 'Daydream Believer'!"

"Working on what?" Lita asked.

"I guess you guys really don't know that much about us, do you?" Amanda said thoughtfully.

"I know enough," Serena said, and for the first time in her lifetime she did the unmistakable all-knowing smile.

"Oh, whatever latest sketch or painting he's working on," Amanda got up and motioned for them to follow her. They went in the hallway; there were four doors. "Here's your mini-tour of our apartment."

She pointed to the first door on her right, "Bathroom," Amanda pointed to the next door, directly in front of them because the hall turned, "that's my room." The next door was JJ's room and the last door which was the so-called 'studio.'

Amanda opened the door, and there was JJ, sitting on a stool in the corner behind a canvas on an easel. And believe it or not, he was singing to "I'm a Super Girl" and using his pencils like drumsticks.

"Over the buildings, over the mountains, over the blue sky, over the rainbow. You know I'm a Super Girl! Yes, I'm a punky girl! I never say die, no one can stop me!"

He blushed a little when he noticed the six of them standing there in the doorway.

"Hi JJ!" Serena said trying to surpress her laughter.

JJ laughed lightly, "Aren't you supposed to be gossiping about me?" he asked Amanda innocently.

"Why are there mirrors on the wall?" Amy asked inspecting the metal bar that was bolted to the wall in front of the large mirrors.

"Well, this used to be a part of the dance studio downstairs, but the guy who owns the building needed some extra money so he remodeled the entire upstairs into this apartment. He left the mirror thinking he might get lucky in finding someone who would work downstairs as well as live here."

"Atleast it gives good light for painting," Raye commented, looking over JJ's shoulder to see what he was sketching.

"It gets its original use too," JJ added to Amanda's disbelief.

"Did I tell you guys Amanda is a ballet teacher downstairs," Mina asked as if it were nothing. Amanda was trying to look away and hide her disappointment.

"No, but since when can you--" Lita started.

"I quit! I quit last year because I made and idiot of myself in front of all of Crystal Tokyo! I've been dancing since I was little, okay!?" Amanda yelled a little paranoid.

"How'd you make an idiot of yourself?" Lita asked concernedly.

"There was fake snow on the stage and my slipper slipped. I fell and tried to recover, I would've done it flawlessly had it not been for the fact I sprained my ankle. I had to be carried offstage," Amanda said solemnly shaking her head slowly looking at the floor.

"You should be more worried about your physical condition than your reputation," Amy advised.

Amanda laughed. "True, true...why can't my mother give such good advice?"